“Do you think they should aim at the desert?” Faldo wondered aloud. “Then they might hit the green.”

And maybe then they would miss their putts.

Woods survived the opening round of the Match Play Championship outside Tucson, Ariz., but he will need to play better – much, much, much better – to conquer Nick Watney in Thursday’s second round. Based on today’s showing, it’s actually fair to ask: Is Woods wading in self-doubt?

He would never acknowledge this, naturally, because Woods built his astounding record on strutting around like the most self-assured player ever (and he was for many years). But it’s impossible not to wonder how much of his uneven play early in 2012 is driven by shaken faith in his ability to win.

Or, put another way, he looks good except when the stakes are high – and that’s exactly when Old Tiger shifted into an otherworldly gear.

It was one thing to watch Woods play a mediocre final round in falling to hatless Robert Rock in Abu Dhabi on January 29. It was another thing to see Woods play a terrible final round – in which he looked lost and confused, after three days of sharpness – in falling to Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach on February 12.

And it was another thing entirely to watch Woods wobble at Match Play, threatening to turn Fernandez-Castano into the answer to a trivia question for the ages.

Fernandez-Castano, a 31-year-old Spaniard, has won five times on the European Tour and stands No. 48 in the world rankings, so he’s no slouch. He also caused a stir Tuesday, when he called Woods “beatable” in pre-tournament interviews.

Absolutely.

Woods should have been beaten today. He would have lost to most players in the field, but Fernandez-Castano played even sloppier and faltered down the stretch, allowing Woods to win by making pars on the final three holes.

Still, the enduring images from this match were Woods smacking one shot left-handed … or wandering amid the cactus, searching for his ball … or leaving a chip shot well short of the hole … or sending putts sliding past the cup.

He did produce a clutch par save on No. 18, to mercifully end the match. But in his ongoing quest to win an official PGA Tour event for the first time in nearly 2½ years, Woods raised more questions than answers.